Tesla fires at least 400 employees in one week

According to reports, luxury electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, has fired around 400 employees in the last week.

The dismissals included associates, team leaders and supervisors, a former employee told Reuters on Friday.

Tesla said in an emailed statement that the dismissals were based on performance and the result of a company-wide annual review. The exact number of staff it let go was not mentioned.

A former employee, who worked on the assembly and did not want to be named, claims however, that this was not the case.

“It’s about 400 people ranging from associates to team leaders to supervisors. We don’t know how high up it went“It’s about 400 people ranging from associates to team leaders to supervisors. We don’t know how high up it went,” the source told Reuters.

The source also said that he was fired despite never receiving a bad review.

The company did say earlier this month that it was experiencing “production bottlenecks”, which left it running behind schedule on the production of its new Model 3 mass-market sedan.

Production on the Model 3, which starts at $35 000 and is half the price of the Model S, began in July.

The Palo Alto, California-based company delivered 220 Model 3 sedans, while producing 260 during the third quarter.